The Benefits of Service Learning
In the class I teach at the local community college, the students are required to complete 4 hours of service learning. At the end of our course, these students are required to do a presentation of their service learning experience. This past week was our final week of class (it’s a short-term, 10-week class), and they conducted their presentations and presented their Vision Boards. It was by far my favorite week of class! Talk about feel-good, uplifting class sessions…this was a perfect way to end our course on a high note.
It didn’t start like that
At the beginning of the semester a large number of the students aren’t terribly excited about this “required volunteer” component (sounds like an oxymoron right?). In fact some of them are just downright mad!
I hear comments like…
“Why do I HAVE to volunteer?”
“You mean we can’t get paid for this work?!”
“I don’t have time to do service learning.”
“This seems like such a waste of time.”
By the end of our class I love seeing the turnaround in many of their attitudes and perspectives. They start to see why service learning is so beneficial, not only to those they serve, but to them as well.
What is Service Learning?
Service Learning incorporates learning with meaningful community service and promotes volunteerism toward meaningful social causes that interest people/students as an individuals. This type of activity allows individuals to develop real-world skills while contributing to their community at the same time.
At the local college where I teach we’ve adopted a definition of service learning as an experiential education that includes:
- Student participation in an organized service activity that reinforces specific course learning outcomes
- Student identification and response to community need(s)
- Structured time for student reflection and connection of the service experience to learning
At my church we might identify these activities as our Love Your Neighbor Outreaches (both locally and globally). At our church we believe that saved people, serve people. We do this by finding opportunities to use the gifts, talents, and resources that God has given us to serve others.
